Temple Senior Vice Provost Betsy Leebron Tutelman Will Spend Year at Lafayette as ACE Fellow

Betsy Leebron Tutelman

Betsy Leebron Tutelman, senior vice provost for strategic initiatives and communications at Temple University, will spend the 2011-12 academic year at Lafayette as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow.

The ACE Fellows Program prepares senior leaders to serve American colleges and universities by enabling participants to immerse themselves in the culture, policies, and decision-making processes of another institution. Fellows spend an extended period of time on another campus, working directly with presidents and other senior leaders to observe how they address strategic planning, resource allocation, development, policy, and other issues and challenges. The program condenses years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single year.

Tutelman will work with President Daniel H. Weiss to learn about the work of the College, attending meetings and College functions to observe how Lafayette is organized and how the decision process works throughout the institution. She also will contribute to the continuing implementation of Lafayette’s strategic plan.

Each ACE Fellow also works on a focused project to benefit his or her home institution. Tutelman will be examining creating a culture of philanthropy at a large urban university. Of particular interest is how students move from on-campus residents freshman year to off campus non-university housing and stay connected to the institution.   What role do faculty members play in shaping a student’s sense of community?  The goal of the project is to understand how to best cultivate community while developing a sense of philanthropy in undergraduate students to improve giving rates at an urban university.

A member of the Temple faculty since 1983, Tutelman brings extensive experience in administration to Lafayette. She served as senior vice provost for strategic initiatives and communications for the past year, and prior to that as senior vice provost and dean of students and senior faculty advisor to the provost.  She has been a tenured professor in the School of Communications and Theater since 1992, serving as chair of the Department of Broadcasting Telecommunications and Mass Media for a decade.  Prior to joining Temple in 1983, Tutelman taught at the University of Arizona and the University of Michigan.

Her research and teaching interests include first responders and media communication in times of crisis, entrepreneurship in entertainment and media, and ethical responsibilities of local news broadcasters.  She has also produced many video documentaries utilizing archival interviews to tell the stories of at-risk and disadvantaged populations.  She is currently completing a series of archival interviews with former chancellors of the Philadelphia Bar Association and producing a documentary about the organization.

She received her B.A. from Goucher College, M.A. from Northwestern University, and her Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Founded in 1918, ACE is the nation’s unifying voice for higher education and serves as a consensus leader on key higher education issues and seeks to influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives. By fostering greater collaboration and new partnerships within and outside higher education, ACE helps colleges and universities anticipate and address the challenges of the 21st century and contribute to a stronger nation and a better world. Its members and associates are approximately 1,800 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher education-related associations, organizations, and corporations.